Sustainability Issues in the Military: Genesis and Prospects
Volume 8, Issue 1 (2018), pp. 19–32
Pub. online: 30 September 2018
Type: Article
Open Access
Published
30 September 2018
30 September 2018
Abstract
Despite the rising recognition and a growing body of literature on sustainability issues in the military, no comprehensive and systematic review on the topic has been published yet. Accordingly, the aim of this paper was to deconstruct the topic of sustainability in the military context by exploring its genesis, state-of-the-art knowledge and future prospects. Furthermore, the study addressed the question of practical importance about where sustainability in the military is ad hoc or institutionalized into management processes and procedures of organizations. The paper relied on the systematic literature review and used a bibliometric data analysis: citation network and keyword network analysis techniques were employed to select, analyse and interpret the genesis and prospects in the field.
The data suggest there are three dominating research streams in the field: (1) environmentally sustainable solutions, (2) economic (un) sustainability of militarization and (3) social cohesion. The recent research on sustainability in the military marks a new trend where all three fields of sustainability are being integrated. It is also apparent form the analysis that a small but significant share of publications indicates institutionalization of sustainability in the military practice. This is particularly evident in relation to environmental issues.